BG Heroes: Files and Origins
by Coutelier
Summary: Biographies, histories and other background information for characters and races in my Baldur's Gate Heroes AU.
1. Imoen

_Readers from gamejag will know that there are actually supposed to be pictures to accompany these bio's, but I haven't figured out any way to link to them on here. Nevertheless you can view them by visiting my livejournal page (the link is now in my profile) and entering the scrapbook. _

**Baldur's Gate Heroes  
Secret Files & Origins:  
Imoen**

_Thank heaven for little girls  
they grow up in the most delightful way!  
Those little eyes so helpless and appealing  
one day will flash and send you crashin' thru the ceilin' _

_- From the film Gigi_

**Name: **Imoen Winthrop. She's not especially fond of the Winthrop part. She's tried before to get people to start calling her 'Crimson Shadow', but it's never caught on. Instead names like 'annoying little red haired brat' seem to be far more popular and less pretentious.  
**Occupation: **Crime fighting adventurer.  
**Nationality:**Citizen of the USA (could have said American but we get sick to death of listening to Canadians whine about how it's a continent and not just one country).  
**Hometown: **Baldur's Gate  
**Height **: 5'4"  
**Eyes: **Grey  
**Hair: **Red  
**Interesting Factoid: **Cats are like Kryptonite to Imoen. Around them she loses all of her powers to quip and tell jokes that are entirely inappropriate in the situation.

It started like something out of a Dickens novel; one dark and stormy night a little more than twenty years ago a mysterious man left a tiny infant on the steps of the Candlekeep Orphanage for Girls (there is a Candlekeep Orphanage for Boys as well, but the two were segregated after some of the boys were caught asking girls to do hand stands for them so that they could look up their skirts). The nuns tried to find out what they could, but were unable to discover the identity of the man or anything about the infant they'd been entrusted with. And so it was they were left with no choice but to raise the child themselves and they named her Imoen.

At first it seemed Imoen was a highly impressionable child, or if not impressionable just plain stupid; she was once rushed to hospital after drinking a tin of paint, because she thought that since it was green it would be good for her. But as she grew a little older her imagination started to blossom in ways which everyone but Imoen found quite regrettable. She didn't seem able to comprehend that, yes, while it was commendable to have grasped aspects of plumbing at such a young age, it actually wasn't terribly funny for the person using the toilet when the water started shooting upwards. Instead she concluded that those people had no sense of humour; though whether they did or not was hardly relevant to the fact that whenever they caught her they would put honey in her hair and leave her outside close to a bee hive.

It was perhaps for this reason that Imoen started learning how to sneak around and slip into and out of places unseen and in time to pick open locks. The nuns and the priest were horrified when statues and cups started disappearing and reappearing some place else. Of course, just because they were religious people didn't mean that they weren't capable of reasoning and measures started to be taken to restrict Imoen's movements. This only caused the red head to further refine her skills.

One day, a girl named Ellie was overjoyed to have finally made contact with her actual relatives; an uncle who had also sent her a gift of her mothers photos and jewellery. The girl was so happy and insisted on showing it to everyone. However, jealousy overwhelmed Imoen and that very night she stole the photos and the jewels but rather then merely hiding them in a place where they could be found again she destroyed the photos and flushed the jewels away. And, for once, she completely got away with it. Rather than privately celebrating her accomplishment however, Imoen saw how utterly devastated Ellie was and so her own heart filled with pain; she had never wanted to hurt anyone before. From that day on, she resolved to only use her powers for good.

No matter how nice she was however, the other girls in the orphanage never forget the pranks she'd pulled and would continue to make her pay for them for the remainder of her stay. All except for one girl who had always stood up for and protected her; Diana, who would later become the saviour of the entire city of Baldur's Gate. She was the only one who always believed that Imoen really was a good person and not just a trouble maker. The two became close, like sisters, and continued to see each other every day even after they had both left Candlekeep. They had promised to always be there for each other.

That was when they were fourteen; Diana left to receive special tutelage and live in the home of Gorion, the very patron who had originally brought her to the orphanage, and his family whilst Imoen was adopted by old puffguts Winthrop and helped him to run the British Pub he owned in the city. Winthrop would import British newspapers and show only British TV. The pub was so authentic that Imoen soon had to learn how to use just about any object as a weapon to fight off hooligans who were embittered by the defeat of whatever team they supported, the privatization of the railways and the importation of American brands and products that were causing local small businesses to fail. Although on the whole American's themselves were okay because they weren't French or German, so it was okay for Imoen to work there even though her national sport was just a fancy version of Rounders and she had rather odd ideas about the game of Football.

Imoen was happy with Winthrop and his family. It didn't bother her that her own origins were a mystery because she felt that between Winthrop and her best friend, Diana, she had everything she needed. But she was to lose it all.

One day, while Imoen was sleeping over with Diana, Gorion received a letter that changed the usually calm man's mood entirely. He told his foster daughter to pack up, for they were leaving the city immediately. Imoen was to return home; but instead she decided to follow them and find out what was going on. Because of that, she witnessed Gorion's murder. A giant in black armour cut him down in the streets while Diana ran and Imoen remained hidden in the shadows frozen by fear, knowing she was powerless to do anything. The giants eyes seemed to glow, made all the more ominous by the rain that night which made them into beams. But when the light of the sun forced back the night, the day met each other and swore that they would get revenge.

First they met up with Khalid and Jaheira, the people Gorion was originally intending to meet up with anyway, and from there travelled the world in pursuit of the armoured figure. It transpired that Khalid and Jaheira, along with Gorion in his younger days were members of the Harpers Guild; a group of 'Heroes' who had banded together to protect the world. The journey was an awakening for Imoen and her friend, who discovered that everything they thought they knew was wrong. They fought against cyborgs, mutants, supercomputers that had gone mad from loneliness, things that were supposed to have been extinct for millions of years, actual real life werewolves and demons who had possessed people's bodies (which Imoen would later discover were what certain aliens called 'Rauko' – beings from another dimension who fed from the energy of creatures from our material universe. When a Rauko is able to infect a host completely the results are disastrous).

Diana took all this in her stride though, and after a while it was mutually agreed upon that she was the leader of the group. Imoen certainly had no problem with this; Diana had always being the more mature one. Stronger, more level headed even in the face of all these impossible things. And yet, as they travelled together Imoen felt that something was wrong. Diana and Jaheira would often talk together in private, taking pains to make sure that Imoen couldn't overhear. She was sure however, that if Diana was keeping things from her then she must have a good reason and that whatever it was she would tell her when she was ready. Imoen remained steadfastly loyal until the very end, having complete trust in her friend.

And after all their travelling, they eventually ended up back where they started; Baldur's Gate. There, the popular and charismatic Sarevok, whom they now knew was the murderer of Gorion, was running for Mayor. He was almost certain to win too, but there was one thing on his agenda that voters weren't aware of; he intended to kill every last one of them. Why? Well, insanity was a good enough explanation for Imoen. Why make things any more complicated?

The vendetta was already personal for Imoen, but now it was even more so; suspecting they would return, Sarevok had also murdered Winthrop and his family so that the group would have no place to stay within the city. He was soon humiliated and exposed for the murderer he was in front of the entire world. But Sarevok wasn't done yet, which Imoen and Diana were glad of. Imprisonment wasn't enough for him; so long as he lived they would never forgive him.

Sarevok retreated to the lair he had constructed for himself beneath the city, the spot he had chosen for the final confrontation. The armor he wore was pretty much indestructible, but it had a flaw; the in built weapons and shielding needed a lot of power. For it to work for any great length of time at all he really needed to carry a nuclear generator around with him. Since that might have been a bit unwieldy, he had come up with a type of transmitter that would 'beam' power from any location. So far however, it only worked within the confines of his lair.

Imoen's job was to shut down the transmitter while the others kept Sarevok busy; once she had they would be able to land the killing blow. She had to fight one of Sarevoks lackeys along the way, but tried her best to hasten the process. But, in the end, she was too slow...

By the time she'd returned to where the battle was taking place, Khalid and Dynaheir were already dead. So, at least, was Sarevok... but Diana, who had landed the killing blow with her sword, had suffered fatal wounds of her own and died in her child hood friends arms. For a long time, Imoen would has been perplexed by the smile on Diana's face as she did so; as if she'd been released from something.

For the next few months, while Diana was being praised as the saviour of the city and people were making a statue in her honour (which the red head has never been interested in seeing) Imoen's grief caught up with her and she fell into depression.

Perhaps, if she'd been faster, stronger; if she'd defeated Angelo more quickly... but, what about Diana? Why had she not used her most powerful weapon... why did she die with a smile on her face as if she wanted it; as if she wanted to break her promise?

Eventually, Imoen would try to put all these things behind her and to lead an ordinary life in an ordinary world; but at that, she was even more of a failure then she had been as a hero.

But then, she started to have a series of strange dreams, about a bald English man with a leather fetish and a project called ELF... when a Japanese man showed up and revealed that the project did actually exist, then she knew through instinct what she had to do; track down the Englishman and knock off his head for messing with her dreams like that.

As an adventurer, Imoen tries to avoid meeting opponents head on, unless she's backed up with a lot of guns. The truth is she's a pretty weak fighter. She is naturally very agile but not really trained; she relies on stealth and her own resourcefulness. She tries to disarm opponents by pretending to be slightly dumber than she actually is, or to get into their heads and force them to make mistakes. If the situation is really desperate, she will try her wits. In any case, there doesn't seem to be any building on Earth that she can't find a way into.


	2. Aerie

As before, click on the link on my hompepage to find the illustrations that accompany this series (it will take you straight there now). Some will be revised/new ones added quite soon as well.

**Baldur's Gate Heroes**

**Secret Files & Origins:**

**Aerie**

"_What do you fear, my lady?"_

"_A cage. To stay behind bars until use and old age accept them and all chance of valour has gone beyond recall or desire."_

_-The Two Towers, by J.R.R Tolkien_

**Name:** Aerie

**Occupation:** Crime fighting adventurer.

**Nationality: **None. She's from space. Whilst various nations might claim to own bits of it, currently these claims are not acknowledged by the peoples who actually live there.

**Hometown: **None (Originally from Faenya Dail, an Avariel City Ship).

**Height:** 5'3"

**Eyes:** Blue

**Hair:** Blonde

**Interesting Factoid:** Aerie is made from 100 per cent natural ingredients.

Whilst on Earth man was still racing for the moon, far away across the galaxy the Avariel City Ship, Faenya Dail, along with its fleet of escort ships, slowly trawled across the depths of space as it had been doing for at least ten millennia.

During their voyage, the Avariel intercepted transmissions between the ships and colonies of a less advanced but still space faring civilization. They discovered the homeworld of this species was under attack by an unknown but clearly more technologically advanced species; unknown to them that was. It did not take the Avariel long to identify the aggressors; their old enemies the Drow engaged in piracy.

Although the Avariel valued their peaceful isolationism, on this occasion they decided to intervene since the Drow looked certain to exterminate or enslave this entire race. Warship's moved away from Faenya Dail and swiftly fell upon the invaders. After a bloody battle, the Avariel successfully liberated the homeworld. Then, as was their way, they left without saying a word.

Of course, the Avariel had suffered casualties. Every resource on board a city ship is carefully rationed and balanced, including the Avariel themselves. A vacuum cannot be tolerated for very long. And so, even as they mourned the deaths of sisters who had fallen, the City's Mother Computer set to work growing a new generation to replace them. First splitting and randomly recombining the original gene pattern (that of the first Avariel, Aerdrie Faenya) then nurturing the young ones within it's artificial wombs, feeding them the vast sums of knowledge contained in it's database as they grew… until finally they were ready.

It was as Faenya Dail had stopped near the star Alshain to replenish its stocks that Aerie was 'born'. She was assigned to the Meneluin (sky blue) chapter, and an older Avariel, Fayanna, was assigned to teach and guide her (for Avariel were born with vast sums of knowledge already, but still they lacked experience).

Young Aerie was kind and pleasant and full of questions and an intense curiosity about, well, everything. So much so that before long, life on the City Ship began to bore her (incidences like the battle with the Drow before she was born were extremely rare, happening only once every few hundred years). And so she looked to the stars.

The galaxy was teeming with life; the Avariel observed and documented all they could from their safe home far out in space. But, having grown fearful of contact with others rarely set out to meet any of them. In the past it had been different; the Avariel had been created to serve and protect the races as yet too weak to protect themselves. And their were still peoples under threat from more powerful civilizations or whose homeworlds were ravaged by diseases the Avariel could easily cure.

Aerie debated the matter with her teacher, Fayanna, saying that they should be exploring the galaxy, learning about other cultures up close and using their knowledge to help others when they could. The older Avariel, ever patient with her, tried to explain how the galaxy had changed. How others would fear the science and technology of the Avariel, or covet it for themselves. By interfering too often they could make things worse. Aerie regarded this as a rather defeatist attitude and besides as things were the Avariel's whole culture was growing stale; eventually other races would catch them up and they'd no longer be safe in their City Ships.

Despite her best efforts, all Aerie's arguments were rejected by her sisters. Her discontentment grew; besides, she didn't believe that evil really existed anywhere. If they showed people their intentions were peaceful they would have nothing to fear from anyone.

Feeling she needed to shake them up a bit, she went to the docks and stole a scout ship. She intended to bring it back of course; maybe visit the odd moon or two that seemed interesting… she wondered if she would be punished when she returned. Would her sisters even know how to punish her? She was probably the first Avariel in many centuries to commit a crime on Faenya Dail. She found that rather… exciting. Exhilarating even…

While Aerie was tearing through space for the joy of it, she received a distress signal. It made her jump. Her first thought was to go back and inform her sisters… but then, she knew they wouldn't do anything. She on the other hand could not abandon her own principles, whatever the rest of them thought. She found herself setting course for the third planet around a yellow in an as yet uncharted area of space.

As she drew closer, her excitement grew and grew. The ships computer intercepted and descrambled all sorts of transmissions coming from the world… very primitive radio signals but still she amazed to find that the inhabitants of the world seemed to closely resemble her own kind. Except there were males of the species as well. They were not any kind of ELF (Engineered Life Form) that she knew… it occurred to her that she may have discovered Tellus. The mythical world on which the Seldarine created the first Avariel.

Still, she didn't forget why she had come. Although she couldn't a precise lock on the signals location (she had already the dismissed the possibility that it came from any of the local inhabitants of the planet… the technology used to transmit it was far too advanced for them), she found the area and quickly landed her ship as close as she dared.

Aerie took an atmosphere reading – the gravity was a little greater than on Faenya Dail and the atmosphere heavier, although not as rich in oxygen. She would be a little slower, weaker and have far less stamina than she did at home but it was well withing tolerable limits. So then, she stepped onto service on the planet she would come to know as Earth for the first time.

She never did find where the distress signal was coming from, and in her eagerness to help she had neglected to take thorough scans of the area before touching down on the surface. Aerie had landed in Arizona, where the US Army was engaged in manoeuvres.

A barrage hit the scout ship and although it survived perfectly intact, the Armed Forces were alerted to her presence and immediately started a search. Aerie managed to elude them for several days, but was unable to find any way back to her vessel.

Alone in an alien environment, increasingly hungry and having no idea if anything around here was safe for her to eat… and above it all, Aerie was very, very scared. She cried for hours at a time and wished she'd listened to her teacher.

Even so, when, on the sixth day, she encountered a small human (she'd never seen a child before but that's what it was), being attacked by several much larger humans her natural instincts took over and intervened to save the small boy. After driving the assailants away, Aerie was completely exhausted and collapsed. The authorities soon arrived and took the alien, too tired to resist at all, into their custody.

Naturally, she soon passed into the hands of the military who fed and clothed her, for which she was very grateful; but it wasn't long before they started interrogating her. This was fruitless at first since she didn't a word they said and they didn't understand a word she said. She could tell they were very angry but had no idea why. Neverthless, it was Aerie who solved the communication problem and slowly started learning their language. This they were very grateful for, since now they could extract some useful information.

A scientist named Sorel took charge of questioning the alien and analysing her spaceship. He was not a nice man; he was positively twisted and employed the most barbaric and cruel methods of torture to get any information he wanted out of Aerie. Much of what she knew was beyond the scientific understanding of humans, but he wrote it all down anyway.

He turned his attention to her ship and its power systems. Although Aerie was not allowed access to her vessel for fear she might pull some kind of trick (which she had to admit she would of), she got wind of his experiments and begged him to stop since he didn't know what he was doing. He ignored her, and went on to cause an explosion which crippled the ships faster than light drives and the navigation system; most crucially he'd destroyed the Lanthorn, putting an end to any hopes Aerie had of ever returning home. Since Avariel city ships were always on the move, smaller vessels belonging to each one were equipped with this device which locked to each City Ships unique signature enabling them to hop back to it through hyperspace at any time. Only the most senior Avariel on board each City Ship knew the signature however, and so without the Lanthorn the odds of ever finding Faenya Dail again were trillions to one.

Sorel himself was badly injured in the explosion, losing an arm and much of his skin was almost completely burnt off. However, he had prepared for such eventualities and replaced his arm with a mechanical one and gave himself a new skin made of steel. As the years passed, he replaced more and more of his human components with machine parts until very little of his humanity was left… although it was debatable whether any part of him was ever truly human anyway.

Sorel renewed his torture of Aerie appropriate machine like relentlessness… he didn't even seem interested in learning anything from her anymore. And then, suddenly, the torture stopped.

Unbeknown to Aerie, Sorel's higher ups had learnt of his methods and had him removed. But Aerie didn't care anymore. She lay on the floor in her cell and never moved. She thought about things sometimes, like her home Faenya Dail. She'd completely forgotten why it was she'd ever left.

Outside it seemed the rest of the world forgot about her too. The new people in charge had decided the alien technology was too dangerous right now and so it was best things under wraps. Of course, it left the question of what to do with Aerie… fortunately for the alien before they had decided anything the base was attacked. In the ensuing chaos she and a few other items were stolen, thus the militaries problem solved itself.

Aerie was now in the possession of a secret research institute owned by De'Arnise Industries. At first not much changed; the new cell wasn't much different and she remained motionless and unresponsive to any stimuli. Her physical condition had deteriorated so much that it was impossible for her to move at all under her own power.

Quayle arrived then, taking it upon himself to nurse Aerie back to health and eventually he succeeded in getting her to open up to him and in time to leave her cell. Through his many acts towards her, Aerie slowly got healthier and more like her old self… even in her interest in exploring outside began to return. Of course, that would never be allowed since she was too valuable to the company. But, having developed genuine affection for the alien girl, Quayle knew that she would never be happy so long as she remained confined in this place.

In the end it was Kalah, a rival of Quayle's, who provided the means for Aerie to leave. His misuse of alien technology resulted in him being possessed by a creature from another dimension, a Rauko, which slew almost everyone in the research facility. When a band of mercenaries showed up and with Aerie's help defeated the creature, they were able to fake Aerie's death so that she could leave with them.

Today, Aerie is Imoen's most loyal and trusted companion. Although physically weak, the Avariel is extremely determined and will do everything within her power to ensure the well being of her friends. In fact, Aerie is a more skilled fighter than Imoen but it's her very poor stamina that lets her down.

Still, the Witch Crystal gives Aerie seemingly magical powers and as a scientist and researcher Aerie proves excellent, despite her poor self confidence and image.

To Imoen, Aerie is also the perfect best friend. Good, kind, loyal, and will do almost anything the red head asks no matter how crazy it is.

As for the Avariel, she finds the planet Earth strange and rather frightening… but also exciting and wonderful. But she still misses her homes and longs to see her sisters once again, even its just to explain where she's been and at last say good bye to all of them.


End file.
